Latest News | GEECL Gets Nod for Shale Gas Exploration in Bengal

Kolkata, Jun 23 (PTI) Coal Bed Methane producer Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited (GEECL) on Thursday said that following an amendment in the mining lease, it will now be able to commence a shale gas exploration programme in West Bengal's Raniganj area that will draw an investment of USD 2 billion (around Rs 15,000 crore).

This is in addition to an investment envisaged in the GEECL's continuing CBM programme of Rs 1,500 crore over the next few years.

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GEECL managing director & CEO Prashant Modi said the company has executed an amendment to its Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) and will now go ahead with its shale exploration programme.

"Given the large potential Shale Gas resource in our Raniganj (South) block of up to 6.63 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of original gas in place, it provides an exciting and excellent growth opportunity for the company," Modi said in a statement.

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"The shale gas mining will bring in an investment of USD 2 billion and create ancillary industries generating thousands of new jobs for the local youth," he said.

Pipelines being installed by GAIL will allow GEECL to deliver additional future gas production volumes to new customers with the increasing demand for natural gas in India, officials said.

"We will now make plans for the initial core wells in the Shale Programme and, based on the results obtained, we will progress to a development plan to drill pilot production wells," Modi said.

Modi had earlier said that if the government levies a windfall tax on higher earnings on oil and gas players because of elevated global energy prices, it will discourage domestic investments in the sector and thereby increase imports which are already 85 per cent for oil and 50 per cent for gas.

The production of shale is expected to help provide an alternative and cleaner source of energy and improve the air quality of the region besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The West Bengal government said that the investment was announced by GEECL during the recently held Bengal Global Business Summit.

"This will boost industrial activity by providing cleaner and cheaper energy and aid the transportation sector growth," the government said in a statement.

A similar lease will be signed with the Essar group for the shale exploration in the Durgapur region next week.

The Essar group's exploration will bring an investment of up to Rs 7,000 crore and is expected to create over 5,000 jobs directly and thousands more indirectly, the statement said.

"Overall, both these shale gas mining projects will generate investment of over Rs 22,000 crore and create thousands of new jobs," it said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)